182 THE MAMMALS OF SOMALILAND 



found of great assistance in keeping the hands, and consequently the fur, 

 dry and unsoiled. 



3. Clean with sawdust the inside of the skin from blood, fat, etc., and 

 then brush it all over with arsenical soap, being especially careful that 

 the insides of the limbs get some put on them. Do not put any poison, 

 especially powdered arsenic, on the outer furry side of the skins. But 

 pepper, naphthaline, or camphor may be used to keep off moths from 

 the skin when travelling. 



4. Turn the skin back right side out, and fill the cavity of the 

 body with cotton-wool, putting it in as far as possible in one piece. 

 Or the skin may be reversed over the wool by putting the forceps up 

 the furry side of the skin from the tail-end, and grasping the wool 

 body through the mouth. Take care just to fill out the skin without 

 over-stretching it, and try to get all your skins filled out to about the 

 same degree. Take a piece of straight wire long enough to extend from 

 the front end of the belly-opening to the tip of the tail; sharpen, if 

 necessary, one end of it, and wind round it enough cotton-wool to fill 

 out the skin of the tail ; then brush it with arsenical soap, and push 

 the pointed end down to the extreme tip of the tail-skin, and fit the 

 near end into the belly, packing it round with the wool of the body. 

 Put some wool into the empty skin of the arms and legs, winding it 

 round the bones and connecting it with the wool of the body. Then 

 stitch up the opening down the belly. Tie the label on to the right 

 hind foot above the ankle. 



5. Lay the skin on a board or piece of cork, draw out the fore- 

 paws forwards, and pin them down to the board by a pin passed boldly 

 through the middle of the paw. Take care that they are pinned close 

 in to the sides of the neck or head, in order to prevent their claws 

 catching in other skins when all are packed together in boxes. Similarly, 

 pin back, soles downwards^ the hind feet by the sides of the tail. It 

 is of considerable importance that neither fore nor hind feet should 

 project laterally outwards, nor should curl up in drying, and that the 

 fingers and toes should be kept close together and parallel, not spread 

 out sideways. 



6. As the skin dries, try to get the face to assume as natural a 

 shape as possible. The ears in foxes, hares, rats, and mice may be 

 neatly folded backwards ; in bats, squirrels, and other animals they 

 should stand up in an erect position. 



7. Disarticulate the skull from the trunk, label it with your initials 

 and the corresponding number to that on the skin, and then let it dry. 

 In a dry climate this may be done almost without any cleaning ; and 

 even in a wet one, if the skull be dropped into some sawdust artificially 



